Okay, so according to Andy Khouri and Pat Loika, the WBCers DIDN’T STAY THE FULL TIME FOR WHICH THEY WERE SCHEDULED. Consensus seems to be that they were there doing their thing for roughly 40 minutes and there were “3 or 4″ of them.

So.

Now it’s time to make good on our pledges. Write the check or hit the big donation button and we can retire the hashtag. (I’d encourage you to do it now if you can, so that you don’t forget, but if you’re actually at SDCC, I can see waiting until you get home.) Don’t forget to put “Fred Phelps” on the memo line.

How much?

Whatever you can afford/think is appropriate.

We said we’d do $50 if they showed, plus $10/hr for however long they stayed. (Clearly, I was expecting a little more enthusiasm from them for their cause.) That’s what? Roughly $57.50? Fraction and I are gonna round up on principle and send $100 each to amfAR and maybe one other foundation. But seriously, if you said you’d do $10/hr–there is no shame in a $7.50 donation if that’s what you’ve got to spare right now. A gift is a gift. The important part is following through on your word.

If you pledged $10 per person, it looks like you’re out forty bucks. If you pledged time? Put 40 minutes of volunteer work on your to do list.

…The thought is that you make their [the WBC's] appearance and all time spent during their appearance drive money going to a charity that they would likely not approve of. I’m going to make such a donation, and I’ll post the time here so you can maybe do so. I’ll also hope to find time and inspiration to pray for those people, because they seem very lost, and maybe you will, too. [Emphasis mine.]

(My understanding is that there were 3 WBC-ers and they got there about five minutes before their 1:15 pm scheduled start.)

Oh–another charity I’ve heard mentioned as an appropriate beneficiary is the Matthew Shepard Foundation. I couldn’t find them on Charity Navigator, but I’ve heard Shepard’s mother speak and have been profoundly moved by her message.

Okay, so, Fred Phelps and his family of hateful bigots are getting a lot of press for their planned appearance at (or near?) the San Diego Comic Con. The man lives for attention and confrontation. If you see him there, don’t sneer, don’t scream, don’t confront, don’t point and laugh–DON’T ACKNOWLEDGE. Ignore, ignore, ignore, ignore, ignore…

EXCEPT! We need some help in the form of a time-keeper or two, letting us know exactly how long the patron saint of backwards thinking and his family manage to stand and scream in the California sun. Then, by all means, do stare–at your watch! Make a note of what time it is and alert the internet that they’re there/still there. (But do it quietly and from a polite distance, will you?) Go get yourself a cold drink and check back every now and then until we have an approximate time count. Like… here would be good. Or on Twitter, with the hashtag #godlovesbatman

Why? Because in the spirit of love, we are pledging to donate $50 to amfAR if Phelps and his crew actually show up (often they don’t) and $10 an hour additional to amfAR for every hour they stay. And we’ll make our donation in Fred’s name.

We’d love you to join us.

(And we’d really love to be able to post a tally of how much we’ve raised.)

Looks like the WBC is only scheduled for 45 minutes. (Lightweights!) If that’s the case, we’ll round up to $100–but times are tough and you shouldn’t feel like you have to do the same or not participate. $7.50 is better than nothing. $57.50 is peachy and cute.

There seems to be some confusion–you don’t need to be at SDCC to pledge. We’re doing an online donation via this link.

EDITED ONCE AGAIN:

I’m told the HRC is quite controversial within the LGBT community for their treatment of the “T” part of the LGBT. Dirk Deppey suggests the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force instead (Click the big pink DONATE button on the upper right). We have chosen amfAR, but honestly, folks, there are a ton of appropriate charities from the CBLDF (the WBC folks are fond of litigation, as it happens, and they are accusing us of idol worship) to smaller local groups like UCan in Chicago. (With any charitable organization, do your research.) What matters is that you take a message of hate and you turn it into a LOVING ACTION. Get it? Some assholes go and scream about God’s wrath and BAM! somewhere on the other side of the world, somebody gets a pill they need that they might not have gotten otherwise.

Another suggestion I loved was to match the WBC’s time with your time. So if they spend 45 minutes screaming and yelling, maybe you spend 45 minutes making phone calls to your elected officials making clear your position of support for LGBT civil rights initiatives. Or you volunteer for an hour at a food bank. Or whatever. Get creative; you people are amazing.